Lately more and more OEMs are in a constant race against time to release the best, high wattage, 80 Plus Platinum unit. Some major players, like Enermax and SuperFlower, have already included high wattage Platinum units in their arsenal. Recent reviews were also unable to verify platinum efficiency in many real life scenarios. Achieving platinum efficiency in low capacity units may be a difficult task but doing so in a high capacity unit is much more difficult because as power climbs, energy dissipation increases too and even the smaller resistance in a conductor can lead to significant energy/efficiency losses when lots of current passes through. So Seasonic, even with their huge experience, had to study the Platinum efficiency subject extensively, something that led to their late entry in this club. Of course when you already have a very successful product like the X Series, then future plans are even harder, since you have to release something significantly improved.

Seasonic’s fresh Platinum series includes two units, with 860W and 1000W capacity. Both are fully modular, use only Japanese 105°C capacitors, have a single +12V rail and utilize a hybrid fan control which offers silent operation (more on this feature in the next pages). Today we will have the chance to test the 1000W unit (or SS-1000XP) and see how it scores against the competition.

It seems an eternity since we heard rumblings of something new and awesome from Seasonic. A while ago, they were rumored to be working on some higher powered variants of their X series units that would clear the 80 Plus Platinum certification level as well. Folks, the rumors are now fact - the new Platinum models have landed. I've got the 1kW model on my bench. Let's take a good, hard, look at what it can do.